Support For Mayor Against Ins

CHICAGO — Your editorial of March 15 on Mayor Harold Washington`s executive order regarding the city`s dealings with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) missed the two basic points of the order.

The executive order intends (1) to guarantee fair access to municipal benefits, opportunities and services to all Chicago residents, protecting them from discrimination due to their national origin or citizenship status and (2) to protect city employees from harassment by INS agents.

Days before the mayor issued his executive order, INS agents harassed Mrs. Maria Cerda, director of the Department of Employment and Training, and arrested two employees of the city`s department of Economic Development only because they look ``alien.``

Enacting the executive order, the mayor renewed his pledge to abide by the law. We would like the INS officers and agents to do the same. Up to date it has been customary for the INS to violate the rights of undocumented workers and political refugees--brown, black, yellow or white--as well as those of minority citizens and legal residents.

We applaud and support the mayor`s action in defense of Chicago residents. His executive order constitutes a remarkable way of implementing a good and humane policy. The order is a keystone in creating an atmosphere to enact just and democratic immgration laws.